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Saudi withdraws Sri Lanka envoy in execution tiff

The Associated Press

Posted:
02/20/2013 03:53:21 AM MST

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia says it has called back its ambassador to Sri Lanka following a similar move by the South Asian nation to protest the kingdom's beheading of a Sri Lankan domestic worker last month.

The two countries have been at odds since the January execution of Rizana Nafeek, who was convicted in the death of a Saudi baby in her care in 2005.

The case spurred global appeals for leniency because she was 17 at the time of the infant's death. She had denied strangling the 4-month-old boy.

The official Saudi Press Agency said on Wednesday that the ambassador was called to Riyadh for consultations. Sri Lanka withdrew its ambassador to the Gulf kingdom after the execution.